A busy week with little to show for it creatively...and still...

I had not realized it had been a week since I had wiggled in here!  While I have been busy with a few things, life has a way of throwing those damned wrenches into the works. I am older now and not as good at dodging them as I once was, and my creative spark suffered for it.

A little bit of spinning done, wandering away from cottons for a couple of skeins, one made with silks and silk blends, satins. I was quite pleased with how it turned out and will get a picture or two snapped if the lighting gets better here in the house. A rather bleak and rainy day, not much natural light making its way through my windows today.

Late into the night I worked on some sketches for upcoming cross stitch designs including Snowflakes #3, a return to the world of the Fernfolk with Billy Berrybottom, Bernard's brother (say that five times fast!) and several new pieces for the Color Bittz series.

I have been digging around, looking through resources as my eye has been turned toward old tapestries and historical needlework, and most of last night was spent trying to combine this fascination  with my cross stitch and needlework designing.  

I have tried before to expand, to stretch my style. I will always be a tad more whimsical, but this adventure into spinning and fabric painting, into recycling and repurposing has left me wanting to look at that side of my art that is a little more serious, trying to capture my love for all things ancestral and beautifully worn out. I want a way to work in some of things I have found over the years. 

So many things tumbled through my head last night as I paged through books and clicked through images. I found the Historical Needlework Resources Website , bookmarked it, and will be returning shortly to dig some more!

http://medieval.webcon.net.au/loc_england.html

http://www.bildindex.de/bilder/MI01602f04a.jpg

http://medieval.webcon.net.au/extant_gloves_frederick_ii.html

The gloves are amazing. I spent a good amount of time reading through the information about them, and then found myself navigating away from the page to other intriguing places to read more.

I look forward to returning to explore further, but for now, I'm off to stitch for a time, then maybe I will cozy up with a cup of coffee and a sketchpad.